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Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) German name(s): "Kernbeisser" Size: 16.5-18 cm; wing span: 29-33 cm Body mass: 45-70 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.35-0.40

Europe: Family Group 24 Family Group 24 Table White Wagtail Western Yellow Wagtail Grey Wagtail Tawny Pipit Berthelot's Pipit Red-throated Pipit Tree Pipit Meadow Pipit Water Pipit Eurasian Rock Pipit Greater Short-toed Lark Calandra Lark Woodlark Eurasian Skylark Bearded Reedling House Sparrow Tree Sparrow Spanish Sparrow Rock Sparrow Trumpeter Finch European Serin Atlantic Canary Red-fronted Serin Eurasian Siskin Common Redpoll Arctic Redpoll Twite Common Linnet Brambling Common Chaffinch European Goldfinch Eurasian Bullfinch Hawfinch Common Crossbill Common Rosefinch Yellowhammer Cirl Bunting Common Reed Bunting Little Bunting Ortolan Bunting Black-headed Bunting Corn Bunting Rock Bunting House Bunting Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Hawfinches are very tall and heavy finches. Except for a minor detail on the wing feathers, the plumages of both sexes are identical. Male Hawfinches have solid blue panels on the upperside of their secondary flight feathers, while females have grey outer edges on otherwise black secondaries. The head is golden-ochre to orange-brown, the front is pinkish-grey to greyish-brown, with black eye patches and a black chin. The nape of the neck is bluish-grey. The upperwings are mostly brown, with white bars and blueish-grey panels on the flight feathers. In winter the plumage tends to be greyer than during the breeding season. Their most prominent feature is the massive grey bill with a dark-grey tip. The irises are brown. Immature Hawfinches have a yellowish-grey breast and a spotted belly.

Taxonomy, classification See Hawfinch at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Hawfinch is available HERE . There are several races of Hawfinches, which are a partly migratory species that populate large parts of mid-latitude Eurasia, out to Korea and Japan in the East. Most of the European population is sedentary, while the majority of the Asian population is migratory. There are also sedentary populations in the Atlas mountain range in north-western Africa and near the Turkish Black Sea coast, while in the rest of Asia Minor and in the near-coastal Middle East and the Nile delta they are found only as winter visitors. The European population extends to the Caucasus mountain range and beyond, to the South coast of the Caspian Sea. There is another permanent population in central Asia and another in north-eastern China, in the border region with Russia and North Korea, while further to the North they are only found as summer visitors, in eastern Siberia, northern Japan and also on the Sakhalin peninsula. This migratory population winters in eastern China, Korea and southern Japan. In Europe they are permanent residents anywhere to the South of a line connecting roughly Oslo and Helsinki, EXCEPT Ireland, upland England and Scotland and the north-western corner of Iberia. In parts of north-western and south-eastern Iberia, anywhere in Italy outside the Appeninne mountain range, in southern Greece and on some Mediterranean islands they are only found as winter visitors. To the East of a line connecting roughly Helsinki with the West coast of the Caspian Sea Hawfinches are found only as breeding migrants. During the breeding season, Hawfinches have a preference for decidious forest, but they can also be found in coniferous forest near water. During the rest of the year they will seek out forest with sources of food, such as pine seeds or fruit. In search of food, they also enter urban parks and gardens, especially in winter. The altitude range of Hawfinches is limited only by the presence of suitable mature forest.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "coccothraustes" More recently, a Hawfinch, race "coccothraustes", was found by A. Sarok in Temerin, Serbia, in December 2015. D. Wilczynska reports spotting a Hawfinch, race "coccothraustes", near Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, in August 2016. M. Thomas reports finding a Hawfinch, race "coccothraustes", visiting a bird feeder semi-regularly in wintertime in Eltville, Hessen, Germany. J. Pires reports finding Hawfinches, race "coccothraustes", occasionally in and around Mora, Evora, Portugal. In the past we have occasionally seen Hawfinches, race "coccothraustes", in the Eifel, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, e.g. as winter visitors to a bird feeder.

Photos

Race "coccothraustes"

ADULT

BREEDING

MALE

Frontal view of a male Hawfinch in breeding plumage; note the golden-ochre head, the prominent blue-grey bill and black facial mask, and the pinkish-grey front; the sex was determined from a look at the wing panels (not visible in this view)
(photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Near Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, August 2016]

Lateral view of a male Hawfinch in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Near Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, August 2016]

FEMALE

Lateral view of a female Hawfinch; note the dark-grey bill and the grey wing panel (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, March 2019]

Sex unknown

Near-lateral view of a Hawfinch in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, February 2020]

NON-BREEDING

MALE

Lateral view of a male Hawfinch in non-breeding plumage note the ivory-coloured bill and the all grey-blue remiges on the wing (photo courtesy of M. Thomas)
[Eltville, Hessen, Germany, January 2019]

Lateral view of a male Hawfinch in non-breeding plumage visiting a bird feeder (photo courtesy of M. Thomas)
[Eltville, Hessen, Germany, January 2018]

Lateral view of a male Hawfinch in transitional plumage; note the blue panel on the primary flight feathers, which is typical of males; the bill is still partly yellowish-brown (at the tip), while the base is turning bluish-grey for the upcoming breeding season (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, January 2017]

FEMALE

Near-lateral view of a female Hawfinch in non-breeding plumage; the determination of the sex was made by association with the dorsal view shown below (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, January 2017]

Lateral view of a female Hawfinch in non-breeding plumage; the determination of the sex could only be made by association with the dorsal view shown below (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, January 2017]

Lateral view of a female(?) Hawfinch in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Thomas)
[Eltville, Hessen, Germany, February 2019]

Dorsal view of a female Hawfinch in non-breeding plumage; note that the primary flight feathers have blue dots on them, while the secondaries have grey outer edges - this is typical of females (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, January 2017]

Sex unknown

Frontal view of an Hawfinch (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, September 2019]

Frontal view of an Hawfinch (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, September 2019]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal view of a juvenile(?) Hawfinch; parts of the plumage are obscured, thereby making precise identification difficult; based on the inconspicuous colours and the timing of the observation, this is probably a juvenile bird (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Near Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, August 2016]

Lateral view of a juvenile(?) Hawfinch (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Near Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, August 2016]

Lateral view of a juvenile(?) Hawfinch looking over its shoulder (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Near Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, August 2016]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial?

Mobility: Partially migratory

Elementary unit: Solitary/pair

Food, Diet

Dorsal view of a female Hawfinch in non-breeding plumage taking the seeds of a maple tree (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, January 2017]

Lateral view of a female Hawfinch in non-breeding plumage taking seeds from a bird feeder (photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[Temerin, Serbia, December 2015]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

hawfnch_jp_20241019.m4a	coccothraustes (Portugal)	?	© JP
hawfnch_jp_20251004.m4a	coccothraustes (Portugal)	?	© JP

More Hawfinch sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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